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Underground SMS campaign remembers Bhopal disaster

Twenty-five years ago this week, in the early hours of Dec. 3, 1984, large amounts of water entered a tank at the Union Carbide factory in Bhopal, India. That water reacted with the 42 tons of methyl isocyanate inside, raising temperature and pressure so high that it began venting massive amounts of gas made up of methyl isocyanate, phosgene, hydrogen cyanide and more. The poisonous cloud swept through neighborhoods near the boundary wall, waking sleeping residents with burning throats and eyes, killing about 4,000 people in the first few hours. Over the next few years, the lingering effects increased that toll to about 15,000 dead, according to government estimates.

25 years after the Bhopal disaster the gas is still poisoning maiming and killing people. On twitter the #bhopal25 hashtag is jumping, and Sunil Shibad started a SMS campaign with the message: This SMS came into your inbox uninvited. Just like the poisonous gas in Bhopal. You can delete this SMS from your phone memory but remember 3/12/1984.Manjula Padmanabhan offers the printable poster of a death-Duracell-bunny for print and email, and students for Bhopal listed a whole page of actions on how to get involved.